Category Archives: pagan

As a Naturalistic Pantheist, I have a naturalistic and non-supernatural worldview. So the question has to be asked –- is it possible to still have a sense of meaning and purpose in the universe.

There are really two ways to answer this question: You can either take the route and say, “No, there is no inherent purpose in the universe, but we can make our own purposes and meanings for life.” After all, who really wants their whole life purpose decided by someone or something outside of them and giving them no real say in the matter?

There is also another possibility…and that’s to use a sleight of hand and change the language from “purpose” to “calling.” Calling is perhaps a softer way of saying that there is something we need to do with our lives. Are…

I am not weak.After I wrote about issues of thin privilege and Pagan fat shaming, I was following some of the conversation on social media. I retweeted T. Thorn Coyle’s post Sacred Body, Sacred Earth, saying that she wrote about bodies, not about weight. MadGastronomer raised some issues of her own with Thorn’s post, and was able to get me to think about the ways that I both appreciate and really dislike some of what Thorn wrote.

This is a confrontation that never happened! I am so very glad this confrontation never happened because just the idea of having this confrontation fills me with horror. I was so happy and relieved that this confrontation never happened, and no one felt the need to make me “work past it.” I am also very, very grateful that the professor understood and did not think I was exaggerating or lying.

I really need to try updating this blog more. I could go on a whinge about not having anything to write about, and finding the right “tone” and “topic” for the blog, but while true, this does not make for exciting reading so instead I will rant about the current class I’m taking. The name of the class is “Ethical and Legal Issues in the Professions,” and it is basically a repeat of many of the things we learned in “Critical Thinking” and the Introduction to Business class and also Sociology. I hate it not because of the class itself, but because of the textbook.

The textbook is pretty much horrible. Thinking Critically About Ethical Issues 7th Ed by Vincent Ryan Ruggiero has some badly researched and mildly racist commentary, is occasionally homophobic and is full of moments where Vinny tries to push the reader into agreeing with him instead of actually explaining the subject.

Okay, this happened a very long time ago, and I am not even one of the people central to the tale. I only heard both sides of the story from the people involved who had no clear idea that I knew both of them. (And it actually took me a while to realize, “hey, small world, these two women are talking about each other!” While the stories were very similar, the spin was different enough that it was actually hard to make a connection between woman A and Woman B.) Continue reading →

I have never felt particularly comfortable talking about my religious beliefs (or my occasional lack of same). I can blame this on having deeply embarrassed myself on several occasions when I was at least nominally Christian. (On one very memorable occasion, I invited a Baptist to my church–my eight year old self not realizing that Baptists are in fact Christian. The girl got her revenge in the form of her ill-tempered Sunday school teacher aunt and an invitation to her church’s summer vacation bible school.) I was interested in the beliefs of others and found a great deal I wasn’t very comfortable with in the religion I was raised in. Continue reading →